INSEAD Library

Includes bibliographical references

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Chinese Culture, Western Culture Why must we learn from each other? Contents FOREWORD...................................................................................... xiii PREFACE.............................................................................................. 1 · · Autobiography: Why Me?................................................................................. 1 Writing Motivation: Why This Book?................................................................ 3 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION............................................................. 9 · · · Readership Anticipation....................................................................................9 Challenges in a Cultural Study of China...................................................... 10 Overview of the Book's Layout....................................................................... 13 THINKING ABOUT THINKING: ENVIRONMENTAL AND EVOLUTIONARY FACTORS........................................................... 26 CHAPTER II: THE THINKING PROCESSES................................... 27 · II.1 Thinking Chinese versus Thinking Western: Thinking about Thinking.. 27 · 11.2 Thought Incubators of China and Europe............................................ 35 · 11.3 The Effects of the Ice Age on Thinking................................................... 40 · 11.4 Characters and Emphases of Thinking Western versus Thinking Chinese . . . ............................................................................................................ 46 11.4.1 Western Sensibilities .......................................................................................... 47 · 11.4.2 Chinese Sensibilities ......................................................................................... 53 INTERPRETATION OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS AND NATURE65 CHAPTER III: HUMANS and NATURE............................................ 66 · III.1 The Nature of Nature: Human Perception and Interpretation of Nature............................................................................................................. 66 · III.1.1 Nature and Science ........................................................................................... 69 · 111.2 Chaos and Order: Cosmogony, the Origins of the Universe.............. 75 · · 111.3 Chinese Space-Time, Metaphysics, and Dynamic Correlative Cosmology .............................................................................................. 83 II1.4 A World Within the World and The Dao of Physics.............................. 92 CHAPTER IV: HUMANS versus THEMSELVES.......................... 102 · · · · IV.1 A Microcosm of Nature.......................................................................... IV2 Body and Soul, Heart and Mind, and Self.............................................. IV.3 Focus and Field Model.......................................................................... N.4 An Ethical Self......................................................................................... 102 105 112 114 CHAPTER V: THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE FAMILY..................... 125 · · V.1 Familial Relationships, Chinese and Western....................................... 125 V2 Feminine Roles in Traditional China..................................................... 133 CHAPTER VI: THE INDIVIDUAL, SOCIETY AND STATE . . . ... 140 · · · · · VI.1 On Moral and Social Development, Education, and Political Order. 140 VI.2 "Wuwei": A Chinese Philosophical and Political Ideal....................... 147 VI.3 Chinese Precepts of Harmony in Diversity, Ritual, Warfare, and Propensity of Things....................................................................................... 152 VI.4 Ideals and the Development of Western Social and Political Ideas ... 160 VI5 Individual, Family, Community, and States: the Traditional Chinese Dreams and Ideals .................................................................................... 170 MEGA-HISTORY, CHINA AND THE WEST .................................. 185 CHAPTER VII: THE FORMATION OF NATIONS AND EMPIRES 187 · · · · VII.1 Neolithic Civilizations of Europe and Mesopotamia.......................... 188 VII.2 The Neolithic Civilizations of China and The Formation of the Chinese Nations .......................................................................................................... 194 V11.3 The Formation of the Roman Empire................................................ 204 VII.4 The Formation of the First Unified Chinese Empire: The Qin/Han Dynasties........................................................................................................ 211 CHAPTER VIII: THE CHARACTERISTICS OF EMPIRES AND THE MIDDLE AGES............................................................ 222 · · · VII1.1 The Roman and the Qin/Han Empires: Contrasts ........................... 222 VIII.2 The Decline of Empires..................................................................... 234 VIII.3 Early Medieval Europe: The Dark Ages........................................... 241 · VIII.4 The Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties....................................................249 CHAPTER IX: THE ROAD TO MODERNITY................................. 261 · IX.1 The Mongolian Empire and The Yuan Dynasty.................................... 261 · IX.2 Late Medieval Europe, the Renaissance, Reformation, and the Age of Discovery............................................................................................. 269 · Do The Late Dynasties of Ming and Qing.....................................................280 · IX.4 The Age of Enlightenment, Revolutions, and Modern Europe............. 291 · IX.5 Divergence and Convergence of Western and East Asian Economic Development.......................................................................................... 299 PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE, EAST AND WEST................... 308 CHAPTER X: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE: THE LESSONS OF HISTORY.............................................................. 309 · X.1 Past, Present and Future Trends.......................................................... 309 · X.2 The Lessons of History.............................................................................320 CHAPTER XI: CONCLUDING REMARKS...................................... 331 · XI.1 Where Are We Going From Here? 331 · XI.2 What Can We Learn From Each Other?................................................341 XI.2.1 Challenges Facing the West............................................................... 343 X1.2.2 Challenges Facing China.................................................................352 POSTSCRIPT..................................................................................... 365 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................... 367